Sunday, 28 November 2010

Keepers #2 - James Jarvis

My first James Jarvis toy was unintentional! :P I really wanted a pair of Stussy exclusive Nike Court Force Low and it happened to came with a toy. He's called Leon and he looks exactly (with James Jarvis style twist) like the bloke running the store!!!

Then I saw Clutter selling this exclusive Pink Gorilla called King Ken that's featured on the cover of the magazine. I thought I would have one of them! Who wouldn't like a good 12" pink gorilla?!?!

Now I am kind of hooked and really needed to check out who this Jarvis bloke is! As a toy addict, you read about the stories, in this case Vortigern's Machine, and found out how many colorways and figures that you've missed already... Many moons later, apart from the one and only olive green prototype King Ken, the brotherhood is complete at the Toy Shrine!

The obsession went deeper and deeper. His first toy was Martin released back in 1998 by Bounty Hunter, so it was a lot of catching up to do! The mini In-crowd characters were easy to get into, and there were still some sets knocking about at reasonable prices. More Vortigern's Machine characters, including a 20" Troll, Yods, Bird Gods, mini King Kens, Calebs, etc... So far I've only sold a pair of Wrestling Elves, because it is the one that's the leastcoherent with the rest of the collection and I can do with the room it freed up. Everything else is a keeper!!! :)

So with James Jarvis toys, it is very simple for me. They are filled with personalities, bringing to life many of the characters from his illustrations, which is good enough reason for me (well the designs are good of course). He's one of the best Britain has to offer and is going to take up a large quota in my collection!!!